BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

BlueChip Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $762,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus upped their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of SO traded down $0.97 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $77.68. The company had a trading volume of 3,709,154 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,690,968. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $80.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $76.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.72 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

About Southern

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.